Diamond twill shawl

A while back I picked up some “diamond twill” fabric at the Grandmother’s fabric sale. It’s not the right kind of fabric to do a full garment with (not enough fabric either) so I was kind of torn. I wanted to use it for my Viking Age costume kit – but wasn’t quite sure what to do with it.

I decided to leave the fabric uncut… and just finish the edges to make a shawl… at least until I figure what else I might want to use it for.

Close up on the edge blanket stitching on the diamond twill shawl

The fabric was slightly longer than it was wide – by about 6″ or so. I didn’t want to trim off the extra just to make it a perfect square, so tucked the extra up, folded the remainder in half to make a triangle, and then just used crochet cotton (blue) to do a blanket stitch along the raw edges to seal it all up. I literally did the stitching while talking to my boyfriend on the phone (on speakerphone obviously!)

Ridiculously simple – but the fabric is pretty cosy and warm, so it actually makes a really nice shawl!

Now… the fabric – and the reason I call it “diamond twill”… it’s not. It’s actually a knit, and the reason it’s folded in half is because the alternate side is sort of fleecy – a give-away that it’s not actually diamond twill woven wool. Still, actual diamond twill woven wool is pretty hard to find, and when it is available, it’s super expensive… so this is a fantastic “look and feel” fabric instead.

The fact that it’s not actually woven wool is another reason why I don’t want to devote the time yet to using it for a full garment. (Because I do have some diamond twill woven wool waiting to be sewn up!)